Improvement in the methods of producing illuminating-gas



ith sins JOH NVF. BOYNTOR OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

Letters. Patent No. 110,427, dated December 27,1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE METHODS OF PRODUCING lLLU'MlNATlNG-GAS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the lama To all wlwmit may coiwern Be it known that I, JOHN F. BOYNTON, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of- New York, have invented a new and useful Method of Producing IlluminatingsGas by Oarbouizing Nitrogen- Gas; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of my invention.

' The extreme cheapness and admirable illuminating q tiesof. the light productsofi petroleum, and the oils obtained fromthe distillation of coal, have made it adesirahle object among inventors and others to devise some cheap and safe method of using such products for the purposes of heating and illuminating. 'The most practicable methods as yet known have been to combine such products in the form of vapor with atmospheric air, or hydrogemror carbureted hydrogen-gas, and to burn such carbm'eted air or gas in the same manner as ordinary coal-gas. Both these methods are liable to objections.

It is Lovell-known fact that a mixture of air and any inflammable vapor, umlercertain conditions, forms a highly-explosive com pound, and manyaccidents have arisen from the use of carbnretcd air as an illuminating agent, while pure hydrogen is too expensive to he used for such purposes.

The object of my invention is to overcome these difficulties, and form an illnminating-gas that can he used with absolute safety and, at the same time, be produced at a cost very little exceeding that of the light spirits used-in its production.

To this end, I make use of pure nitrogen-gas, which is a non-supporter of combustion, to combine with the vapor of such light spirits, or a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen.

The nitrogen may be obtained by any known methad, but I prefer to obtain it from the atmosphere by burning out the oxygen, or absorbing it by any salt or substance having an atfinity for it.

In carrying out my invention, I use a holder con-' structed aft-er the manner of the ordinary holderuscd at gas-works. This holder I so arrange that it may be lifted from the tank in which it .is suspended, and a car or other vessel containing inflammable material be placed under it, and such inflammable material ignited, and the holder be brought back to its proper position. The material will continue to burn as long as-any oxygen remains in the air contained in the holder, ibrniing water and carbonic-acid gas, which will be taken up and. absorbed by the water in the tank, leaving pure nitrogen in the holder, with, perhaps, a trace of carbonic-acid gas, which may be removed by placing caustic alkali in the holder.

The nitrogen thus-obtained may be carbureted by any of the known methods, and the spirits for carburetingunay he obtained from petroleum, or by the distillation of coal. V

To increaset-he capacity of the nitrogen for taking up the inflammable vapor it may be heated before passing to the carburetor. To effect this I have found it convenient to attach a small carbureterto the gaspipe just below the burner, andpass-said gas-pipe,jn the shape of a coil or otherwisc, o\ 'er the burner before reaching thecarburetcr, by means of which the heat of the burner isut-ilized.

The gas-pipe, after entering the carburetor may be coiled once or twice'bel'ow the surface ofthe oil in order to heat the contents of the carburetor.

Having thus described my invention,

\Vhat I claim, 'and desire'to secure by Letters Pat- .ent, is

l. The use of nitrogen-gas, prepared and carbnretcd, substantially as and-for the purposes herein set forth. 2. The mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen, for the purposes herein described.

JOHN F. BOYNTON; \Vitnescss:

G. L. COOMBS, J. L. Ooonns 

